The Obvious Conclusion
by Laurus Nobilis
Summary: Luna knows exactly what's going on with Professor Lupin. SPOILER FREE, set during PoA.


**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

**The Obvious Conclusion**

The Ravenclaw common room was starting to get crowded, full of all the students that returned from their last classes of the day. Luna didn't really mind the increasing noise. She had already finished her homework, and now she was doodling some magical creatures in her sketchbook. The Defence Against the Dark Arts class was giving her a lot of ideas for drawings lately.

It was really nice to have a teacher who made his subject so interesting, even if Professor Lupin didn't seem to know about many of the creatures she asked him about. At least he was nice about it, though. That was much better than the previous year, when Lockhart had pretended that he'd met (and defeated) every single one of the beings she mentioned. She wondered how could he think she'd believe him. Someone as silly as Lockhart was no match for a Heliopath, and his clothes were so bright that Blibbering Humdingers would never approach him. He probably had a Wrackspurt inside of his brain.

But Lupin was different. When he didn't know about something, he simply said so. He'd even make the rest of the class stop laughing at her. That was very nice of him. So Luna didn't like it when her classmates, and the Ravenclaws from other years, tried to figure out what was "wrong" with him. It was none of their business, really. Besides, if they truly were so interested, they should have figured it out long ago...

"He _has_ to be hiding something," Michael Corner said, from the table beside hers. "I mean, just look at him... he always looks sick. There's something fishy going on."

"Well, maybe he's just ill and that's all," replied Lisa Turpin. "Not everything is a mystery."

"But it makes no sense!" Michael insisted. "If it was something that Madam Pomfrey can't cure, then he'd be in no state to teach, either. It must be something else. Besides, just look at his robes –"

"What does being poor have to do with anything?"

"It's not about being poor," Padma Patil intervened, "not quite. The thing is, he looks like he didn't have a job at all before Dumbledore hired him. And why would he hire a teacher with no experience?"

"Because anyone's better than Lockhart," said Michael. The others nodded.

"But still..." Lisa muttered, thoughtful, "it's a bit surprising that he's such a good teacher, if he's never worked before."

"Maybe he's just talented," said Padma, and she shrugged. "I don't know... Everything makes sense on its own, but when you put it together it looks very suspicious. And all those times he disappears, too. I hate being stuck with Snape."

"Me too," Michael sighed. "I wonder what his problem is. Maybe we'd find a way to help him and get rid of Snape."

At that point, Luna just couldn't keep herself quiet anymore. It was amazing that they hadn't reached the obvious conclusion yet, after so many months of knowing him. She turned around and crossed her arms over the top of her chair, peering at their table.

"I don't think so," she told them. "There isn't anything we can do to help."

They stared at her for a moment in silence. Then Lisa nodded.

"I guess you're right. If there was a way to fix the problem, Dumbledore would have done it already."

"Besides, there's no cure for what he has," said Luna.

"What are you talking about?" asked Padma. "You don't know what's wrong..."

"Oh, I do. He's a werewolf, of course."

The others stared at her yet again, then at each other. At last, Michael was the one to speak.

"No offence, Loony," he said, "but that's ridiculous. Do you really think that Dumbledore would let a _werewolf_ work as a teacher here?"

"Werewolves are only dangerous on full moon nights," she pointed out.

"Well, yes, but..."

"And Professor Lupin always goes away for the full moon," she continued. "Then he takes a couple of days to return to classes, because he isn't feeling well yet. He also shows all the signs of early aging that come with the stress of transformation. He's so poor because only Dumbledore would give a job to a werewolf; most people are very silly and prejudiced. Besides, Snape keeps dropping hints about it."

"... yeah," said Michael after a while. "Um. Nice theory."

"We'll consider it," said Padma. Lisa smiled weakly.

Luna beamed at them and climbed back down from the chair. _Now that's a theory we can discard_, she heard Lisa whisper, not quite low enough. She smiled to herself as she returned to her doodles. Her father was right. Honesty was _always_ the best course of action.


End file.
